I. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally concerns garment dryers, and more specifically a garment dryer having a plurality of segments which are connected together to form the shape of a garment and allow it to be dried from the inside and the outside, with each of the segments constructed in such a manner that they nest together to form a compact shape for storage.
II. Background of the Invention
The cleaning of sweaters, knitwear and other similar garments has been a long time problem. Washing is the best and cheapest way to clean these products, yet stretching of water heavy garments, very slow drying with accompanying mold and fiber weakening, as well as clumsy, labor intensive, space demanding methods are all problem with current drying techniques. Dry cleaning is expensive, unkind to many fibers and often leaves a chemical residue., The subject invention will prevent stretching and speed up drying, is easy to use, less time and space consuming and will result in a cleaner, fresher, uncontaminated garment.
Typically, drying devices for garments constitute frames or some other structures which support a garment to be dried. These frames or other structures are quite bulky, usually do not assemble and disassemble, and if they do, are usually difficult or time consuming to assemble and disassemble. Additionally, if they do disassemble, they do not nest into a compact shape, thereby taking up much storage space.
Saucy U.S. Pat. No. 4,613,066 discloses a garment drying device which consists of an open mesh torso shape which has sleeves which are connected by Velcro fasteners. The Saucy device does not have rigid parts nor are any of parts or segments shaped in a way as to allow them to nest together to form a compact structure.
McKinney U.S. Pat. No. 2,016,969 discloses an adjustable dryer and stretcher form which includes torso segments and separate sleeve sections which are screwed together. The sections are typically overlapped and joined together by wing nuts and bolts. This form holds the contour of the sweater during drying. There are no means for fastening the segments together without the fasteners projecting into the garment causing impressions. Additionally, the garment does not dry from inside out. Furthermore, there is no easy way to maintain the pieces in a nestable fashion after disassembly.
Additional patents include Mayer U.S. Pat. No. 2,506,513 which discloses a sweater frame for holding a garment in position for drying, Kanageser et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,517,865 which discloses a frame device for shaping knitwear, and Andrews U.S. Pat. No. 4,541,554 which discloses a sock dryer which has telescopic sections. Also, Smith U.S. Pat. No. 3,465,507 discloses a drying board for holding the shape of a sweater during drying.
Among the disadvantages of the prior art is that most of the prior art does not allow the garment to dry from the inside out as well as the outside in. Other disadvantages are that devices are more difficult to use, that the parts of the dryer do not connect easily or, alternatively, are not nestable for easy storage.